Washington, D.C. —Nevada Senator Harry Reid released the following statement on the August employment report. According to the Labor Department, the economy added 169,000 jobs in August and unemployment dropped to 7.3 percent, the lowest since December 2008:

“Today’s employment report shows that we are moving in the right direction, but not fast enough. Congress has a choice when it comes to the economy: we can choose policies that accelerate job creation and expand the middle class, or the path to European-style austerity favored by Tea Party Republicans.

“The last time our Republican colleagues decided to play chicken with the full faith and credit of the United States, our nation’s credit was downgraded and the recovery slowed down to a trickle. For the sake of the middle class, Republicans should put our nation’s economic well-being ahead of the Tea Party’s desire to manufacture crises at every turn. I hope that in the weeks ahead Republicans will join Democrats in advancing an agenda that replaces the sequester with smart spending cuts and policies that close wasteful tax loopholes and ask millionaires to pay their fair share. The choice is clear.”